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Oklahoma ethics panel fails to police campaigns

The Oklahoman Editorial | Published: November 20, 2012 Comment on this article

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That fiasco did much to undermine public confidence in the agency's competence in investigating alleged ethics complaints. Now the Ethics Commission's failure to notice that a PAC hadn't filed contribution reports for years, even as candidates got donations from it, suggests the commission's oversight of campaign finance is also amateurish.

This is the same agency that asked for a budget increase in 2008 to cover basic supplies and then used the money to instead provide 30 percent pay raises to some staffers. Based on recent job performance, Oklahoma taxpayers should demand a refund.

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